jf/Cx^i/i, 



H/iU\ 



With the Compliments of. 



THE 




NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF MASSACHUSETTS 



^ 



d* 



^ 



w 



IN ITS RELATIONS TO 



NEW HAMPSHIRE: 



A Part of the Council's Report made to the American 

Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, 

on October 21, 1890. 



By SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D. 



\ 



THE 



NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF MASSACHUSETTS 



IN ITS RELATIONS TO 



NEW HAMPSHIRE: 



A Part of the Council's Report made to the American 
Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, 
V ON October 21, 1890. 



"b 



»)- 



By SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D. 







CAMBRIDGE: 

JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

S^uilifisitg iUrrss. 

1890. 



<r 



X 



V 



THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF MASSA- 
CHUSETTS IN ITS RELATIONS TO 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



'T^HE Colonial Charter of Massachusetts Bay, granted 
-■- by Charles I., under date of March 4, 1628-9, gave to 
the Governor and other representatives of the Massachusetts 
Company, on certain conditions, all the territory lying be- 
tween an easterly and westerly line running three miles north 
of any part of the Merrimack River and extending from the 
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, and a similar parallel line run- 
ning south of any part of the Charles River. To be more 
exact, and to quote the ipsissima verba of the original instru- 
ment, the bounds of this tract of land were as follows : — 

All that parte of Newe England in America which lyes and ex- 
tendes betweene a great river there comonlie called Monomack river, 
alias Merrimack river, and a certen other river there called Charles , 

river, being in the bottome of a certen bay there coinonlie called 
Massachusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatusetts bay : And 
also all and singuler those landes and hereditaments whatsoever, lye- 
ing within the space of three Englishe myles on the south parte of 
the saide river called Charles river, or of any or every parte thereof : 
And also all and singuler the landes and hereditaments whatsoever 
lyeing and being within the space of three Englishe myles to the 
southward of the southermost parte of the said baye called Massa- 
chusetts, alias Mattachusetts, alias Massatusets bay : And also all 
those lands and hereditaments whatsoever *hich lye and be within 
the space of three English myles to the northward of the saide 
river called Monomack, alias Merrymack, or to the norward of 
any and every parte thereof, and all landes and hereditaments what- 
soever, lyeing within the lymitts aforesaide, north and south, in ^T 



latitude and bredth, and in length and longitude, of and within all 
the bredth aforesaide, throughout the mayne landes there from 
the Atlantick and westerne sea and ocean on the east parte, to the 
south sea on the west parte : 

Without attempting to trace in detail, from the time of the 
Cabots to the days of the Charter, the continuity of the Eng- 
lish title to this transcontinental strip of territory, it is enough 
to know that the precedents and usages of that period gave to 
Great Britain, in theory at least, undisputed sway over the 
region, and forged every link in the chain of authority and 
sovereignty. It has been claimed that the rights and privi- 
leges given by the contract conflicted with those already granted 
by the Crown to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his son Robert 
and to John Mason ; but I do not purpose now to enter on 
the discussion of that question. 

At that time it was supposed that America was a narrow 
strip of land, — perhaps an arm of the continent of Asia, — 
and that the distance across from ocean to ocean was com- 
paratively short. It was then known that the Isthmus of 
Darien was narrow, and it was therefore incorrectly presumed 
that the whole continent also was narrow. New England was 
a region about which little was known beyond the slight ex- 
aminations made from the coast line. The rivers were unex- 
plored, and all knowledge concerning them was confined to 
the neighborhood of the places where they emptied into the 
sea. The early navigators thought that the general course of 
the Merrimack was easterly and westerly, as it runs in that 
direction near the mouth ; and their error was perpetuated 
inferentially by the words of the Charter. By later explora- 
tions this strip of territory has been lengthened out into a 
belt three thousand miles long. It crosses a continent, and 
includes within its limits various large towns of the United 
States. The cities of Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, 
Detroit, and Milwaukee all lie within the zone. There have 
been many social and commercial ties between the capital of 
New England and these several municipalities, but in com- 
parison with another bond they are of recent date, as the 
ground on which ihey stand was granted to the Massachusetts 



Company by the Charter of Charles I., more than two hundred 
and sixty years ago.^ 

Through this misapprehension in regard to the course of 
the Merrimack River there have arisen certain disputes over 
the boundary line between the adjoining States of Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire, which are not yet settled even 
in our time. The royal grant comprised a large tract of land, 
which was then a dense wilderness, situated outside of Chris- 
tendom. After the lapse of some years the settlers took steps 
to find out the territorial boundaries of the Colony on the 
north in order to establish the limits of their jurisdictional 
authority. To this end at an early day a Commission was ap- 
pointed by the General Court, composed of Captain Simon 
Willard and Captain Edward Johnson, two of the foremost men 
in the Colony at that time. Captain Willard was a native of 
Kent, England, and came to Massachusetts in the year 1634. 
He lived first at Cambridge and Concord, then at Lancaster, 
from which town about the year 1671 he removed to Groton, 
and in all these places he exerted a wide influence. In his 
day he filled various civil offices, and was a noted military 
man, holding a major's commission. Plis farm in Groton was 
situated at Nonacoicus, now within the limits of Ayer ; and 
his dwelling-house was the first building burned at the attack 
on the town, March 13, 1676, in Philip's War. During several 
months previously Major Willard had been engaged with his 
command in scouting along the line of frontier settlements 
and protecting the inhabitants. At this assault he came with 
a company of cavalry to the relief of the town, though he did 

1 Some of the early records of the Massachusetts Company are printed in 
the " Archasologia Americana" (iii. 1-107) of this Society; and on page 103 of 
the copy there is a singular error in the reading of a word in the original text. 
It occurs in the Company's second Letter of Instructions to Endicott and his 
Council, where reference is made to " Hookes, I-ynes, knives, bootes, and 
Barrells." An e.xamination of the original manuscript in the Suffolk Registry of 
Deeds shows the last quoted word to be " Barvells." According to the Century 
Dictionary, now in the course of publication, this word means "a kind of leather 
apron," — an article that might well go with the other items mentioned. It is 
correctly given in the " Records of the Governor and Company of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay " (i. 404), as edited by our late associate, Dr. Nathaniel Bradstreet 
Shurtlefif, as well as in the " Suffolk Deeds " (i. xviii), where it is again printed. 



not reach the place in time to be of service in its defence. 
He died at Charlestown on April 24, 1676, a very few weeks 
after Groton was abandoned. Major Willard was the an- 
cestor of two presidents of Harvard College, and of our late 
associate, Joseph Willard, Esq., who for twenty years was one 
of the councillors of this Society. 

Captain Johnson, the other Commissioner, was also a Kent- 
ish soldier, and at the date of his appointment a member of 
the General Court. He first came to New England with 
Governor Winthrop during the summer of 1630, though at 
that time he did not tarry a great while ; but a few years later 
he returned with his family, and remained until the time of 
his death. In the early Colonial Records his name always ap- 
pears with the prefix of " Mr.," which shows that he was a 
man of property and social position. He was actively en- 
gaged in the settlement of the town of Woburn, where he 
held both civil and ecclesiastical offices. For more than 
twenty-five years he represented the town in the House of 
Deputies, and for one year was the Speaker. He was the 
recorder of the town from the date of its incorporation until 
his death, which took place on April 23, 1672. At the 
present time he is known mainly by his History of New 
England, a quaint work entitled " Wonder- Working Provi- 
dence of Sion's Saviour in New England," which was first 
published in the year 1654. It contains many facts concern- 
ing the early settlement of the country not found elsewhere, 
and forms an important addition to our historical literature. 

Such were the two men constituting the Commission, who 
were to interpret the meaning of the Charter in reference 
to the northernmost boundary of the Colony, and to say 
where the line should be drawn. They derived their authority 
from the action of the General Court, found in the records 
as follows : — 

The 31"' of the 3! mo"'. 1652 on pvsall of o' Charter it woos this 
day voted by the whole court That the extent of the Line is to be 
from the Northermost part of y" Riuer Merimacke & Three miles 
more North where it is to be found be it an hundred miles more or 
less from the sea & Thence vppon a strcyght line east & west to 



each sea & this to be the True interp''tatio of the Termes of the 
Lymitte Northward granted in the Patent (III. 347) 

ffor the better discouery of the North Line of o"" pattent It is 
ordred by this Court That Capt. Symon VVillard & Capt. Edward 
Johnson be appoynted as Comissione" to gcure such Artists & other 
Assistants as they shall Judge meete to goe with them to find out 
the most Northerly part of Merimacke Riuer & that they be sup- 
plyed with all manner of nessessaryes by the Treasurer fitt for this 
Journey & that they vse theire vttmost skill & abillitie to take a 
true obseruation of the Latitude of that place & that they doe it 
with all Convenient speed & make returne thereof to the next ses- 
sion of this court (III. 353) 

The order appointing the Commission, just given, was passed 
on a day subsequent to May 31, 1652, although, in the printed 
edition of the Colonial Records, it appears to be of that date. 
In the early history of Massachusetts the proceedings of the 
General Court, as a rule, are not dated day by day, — though 
there are many exceptions, — but the beginning of the session 
is always given, and occasionally the days of the month are 
also given. These dates in the printed edition of the Colonial 
Records are often carried along without authority, at times 
extending over a period of several days, or even a week or 
more ; and for this reason, in some instances, it is impossible 
to learn the exact date of particular legislation, unless there 
are contemporaneous papers bearing on the subject. The vote 
and the order, as found in the records, are separated by six 
manuscript pages, which would imply several days of ordinary 
business between the passage of the two. It will be seen that 
the Commissioners were empowered, under the order, to en- 
gage " such Artists & other Assistants," as were needed for 
the purpose. In early da)s a surveyor was called an artist, 
and in old records the word is often found with that meaning. 
Under the authority thus given, the Commissioners employed 
Sergeant John Sherman, of Watertown, and Jonathan Ince, of 
Cambridge, to join the party and do the scientific work of the 
expedition. 

Sergeant Sherman was a land surveyor, and a prominent 
inhabitant of Watertown. He was often chosen a selectman. 



8 

and for many years the town-clerk, besides being several times 
elected to the Legislature. He was the great-grandfather of 
Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and the ancestor, on his mother's side, of the junior 
Vice-President of this Society. 

Jonathan Ince, the other " artist," was a graduate of Harvard 
College in the Class of 1650, who, after taking the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, remained at Cambridge for more than three 
years. During this period he appears to have been acting in 
various capacities connected with the institution, and, like an 
undergraduate, he was regularly charged for the usual small 
items in the college accounts. In a certain way he was the 
confidential clerk of President Dunster, and at the date of his 
appointment by the Commission he was filling the butlership 
of the College, a position which placed him in charge of the 
commons. A few years afterward, — according to our late 
associate, the Reverend Dr. Joseph Barlow Felt, in his " Eccle- 
siastical History of New England" (II. 163), — the Apostle 
Eliot wrote a letter to the Treasurer of the Missionary Cor- 
poration, in which he recommended Ince "as a godly young 
man, a scholar who hath a singular faculty to learn and pro- 
nounce the Indian tongue." 

The two surveyors were allowed " a daily stipend of ten shil- 
lings in the best pay of the country ; " and it is known that the 
whole party proceeded up the Merrimack River by boat as far 
as the outlet of Lake Winnepisaukee. The expedition con- 
sisted of eight or ten men, including several Indian guides or 
" pilatts," and started, it is supposed, from some place in what 
is now Lowell, probably above Pawtucket P^alls. When they 
reached the confluence of the two rivers in the present town 
of Franklin, New Hampshire, they followed up the eastern 
branch, as being at that season of the year the larger stream, 
and soon they came to the outlet of the lake, at The Weirs. 
In this neighborhood the Commissioners considered the 
source of the river to be ; and in their report made a few 
weeks later to the General Court they gave it "the name of 
the head of Merremack." The place for many years has now 
been called "The Weirs," so named from the fact that the 



Indians, from very early times, iiad weirs set in the stream at 
this point for the catching of fish. It is a spot very favorable 
for the purpose, as it is the only outlet to the lake, and all the 
water within this large body flows through a narrow chan- 
nel into the river. Through the clear and limpid water the 
remains of these weirs are still distinctly seen at the bottom 
of the lake, where they have rested for many generations. 
Near by there is now a small settlement, a favorite spot dur- 
ing the summer season for Old Soldiers' reunions, camp meet- 
ings, and conventions, as well as a resort for tourists. This 
village is known as The Weirs, and comes within the township 
of Laconia. 

In October, 1652, the Commissioners made a return to the 
General Court, giving the result of their labors, and including 
the affidavits of the two surveyors. According to this report 
they fixed upon a place then called by the Indians Aquedahtan 
as the head of the Merrimack River. By due observation they 
found the latitude of this spot to be 43° 40' 12" ; and the north- 
ern limit of the patent was three miles north of this point. 
Their report is as follows : — 

Captajne Symon willard & Captajne Edward Johnson a Comit- 
tee Appointed by the last Gennerall Court to procure Artists to 
Joyne wth them to finde out the most Northerly part of Merremacke 
Riuer Respecting the lyne of our Pattent having procured Sarjeant 
John Sherman of water Toune & Jonathan Ince student at Harvard 
CoUedge as Artists to goe Along wth them made their Retourne of 
what they had donne and found, viz John Sherman and Jonathan 
Ince on their oathes say that at Aquedahtan the name of the head 
of merremack Where it Issues out of the lake called winnapuscakit 
vppon the first day of August one thousand sixe hundred fifty two 
wee observed and by observation found that the Lattitude of the 
place was fourty three degrees forty minutes and twelve seconds 
besides those minutes which are to be allowed for the three miles 
more North which runn into the lake In witnes whereof they have 
subscribed their names this nineteenth of October one thousand sixe 
hundred fifty and two Jur. Cor me Jn'" Endecot. Guber' 

Jn" Sherman. Jonathan Ince. 

The sajd Comissioners brought in their bill of chardge which 
they expended &: j)mised on & to those that went that Journey to 



lO 

finde out the most northerly part of merreniacke which was twenty 
eight pounds twelve shillings and tenn pence which the Court 
allowed and ordered that the psons concerned should be sattisfied 
out of the Rate according as they were j>mised And further doth 
Order the Treasurer to Sattisfy to Captajne willard and Captajne 
Johnson twenty markes a peece for their pajnes :/. 
(General Court Records, IV. 103.) 

Lying on the bed of the stream, near the outlet of the lake, 
and projecting above the surface, is a large granite bowlder 
running north and south, perhaps seven feet long, which is a 
conspicuous object as seen from the shore. For a guess, it 
is a hundred feet from the western bank, and a hundred and 
twenty-five feet from the eastern bank ; and at low water, 
even before the stone was raised, it was always uncovered. 
This rock caught the eye of the Commissioners, and at once 
was taken by them as the head of the Merrimack ; and, in 
token of their ofificial authority, it was marked on the upper 
surface with the following letters : — 

EI S W 
WP lOHN 
ENDICVT 
GOV 

These letters are roughly cut, but with moderate care can 
easily be made out. From the action of the elements and the 
discoloration by time, their edges are somewhat worn, but 
they are still fairly distinct. They are about four inches in 
height, though they vary somewhat, and are read from the 
west side of the rock. The initials in the first line are those 
of the two Commissioners, Edward Johnson and Simon Wil- 
lard, while the rest of the inscription gives the name of the 
Governor of Massachusetts at that period. Without doubt the 
letters " WP" stand for Worshipful, a title of dignity given in 
early times to persons of high ofificial station. Formerly the 
bowlder, now known as the Endicott Rock, was somewhat 
lower in the bed of the stream, and its upper surface was ex- 
posed for the most part during the summer season only, but 
about six years ago it was raised two or three feet and blocked 
underneath, so that the inscription cannot be covered by water. 



1 1 

The Rock was considered at that time to be of so much public 
interest that the Senate and House of the State of New Hamp- 
shire, on September 7, 1883, passed a joint Resolution, ap- 
propriating the sum of ^400 for its better preservation and 
protection; and under this authority the raising was done. 
These changes appear to have been suggested first in the " Bos- 
ton Daily Advertiser," July 26, 1850, by a correspondent who 
signs himself " F. J." A crack or split, made perhaps at the 
time of the raising, passes through the long diameter of the 
stone ; and in order to protect it further, a large iron bolt has 
been put through the short diameter, with heavy nuts screwed 
on at each end. Its dimensions, speaking roughly, are seven 
feet in length, six feet in width, and five feet in height. The 
bowlder is situated on the property of the Winnepissiogee 
Lake Cotton and Woollen Manufacturing Company, who use 
the lake as a storage basin, and in dry seasons draw upon it 
for a supply of water. About ten years ago, with due fore- 
sight, this Company had casts in plaster — four certainly, 
and perhaps more — taken of the inscription. One of these 
was given to the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, on March 12, 1881, another to the Peabody Museum 
of American Archaeology at Cambridge, a third to the New 
Hampshire Historical Society, and a fourth to the Proprietors 
of the Locks and Canals on Merrimack River, whose office is 
in Lowell. 

It is somewhat singular that the existence of this inscrip- 
tion and of the Rock as a memorial stone should have been 
lost sight of for more than a century and a half, and entirely 
forgotten, as is the fact. The letters were cut either in July 
or August, 1652 ; and there is no subsequent allusion or ref- 
erence to them until they were brought to light anew in a 
letter of Colonel Philip Carrigain written to John Farmer, 
Esq., the antiquary. This communication is printed in the 
" Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society " 
(IV. 194-200), and gives some interesting details in connec- 
tion with the discovery. The volume was published in the 
year 1834; and the letter, which is undated, was written near 
that time, probably in the autumn of 1833. A dam was made 



12 

across the outlet to the lake, in order to clear the channel so 
that a steamboat — then recently built — might pass to a win- 
ter harbor at Lake Village five miles below. During the exca- 
vation the rock and inscription were first noticed by Daniel 
Tucker, Esq., and Mr. John T. Coffin, President and Cashier, 
respectively, of the Winnipisiogee Bank at Meredith, and by 
them reported to Colonel Carrigain, who hastened to visit the 
spot, and who promptly communicated the discovery to Mr. 
Farmer, then a member of this Society. At that time The 
Weirs came within the limits of Meredith, as Laconia had not 
yet been set off as a separate township. It is an interesting 
fact to note that Colonel Carrigain, in his letter, first sug- 
gested that the stone be called the Endicott Rock, a name by 
which it has since been known. 

On the second day of last August, during a very delight- 
ful drive through parts of Vermont and New Hampshire, in 
company with the Honorable George Lewis Balcom, of Clare- 
mont, I visited this interesting bowlder. It is situated a 
short distance below the railroad station, and just above the 
bridge leading from The Weirs to the other side of the river, 
and easily accessible by a boat. The stone is the earliest 
public monument found within the limits of New England 
which was made by the English settlers, and as such is 
worthy to be kept in mind. For nearly two centuries and a 
half the inscription has battled the storms of all seasons,,and 
now bids fair to withstand them for ages to come. The State 
of New Hampshire showed a due regard for right sentiment 
when she made an appropriation to preserve and protect such 
an historical relic. 

The northern boundary of the original grant to the Colony 
of Massachusetts Bay, as has been shown, was based on a 
misapprehension ; and this ignorance of the topography of 
the country on the part of the English authorities afterward 
gave rise to considerable controversy between the adjoining 
Provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. So long 
as the territory in question remained unsettled, the dispute 
was a matter of little practical importance ; but after a time 
it led to much confusion and assumed grave proportions. 



13 

Grants made by the one Province clashed with those made 
by the other ; and there was no ready tribunal to pass on the 
claims of the two parties. Towns were chartered by Massa- 
chusetts in territory claimed by New Hampshire ; and this 
action was the cause of bitter feeling and provoking legisla- 
tion. Massachusetts contended for the tract of land "nomi- 
nated in the bond," which would carry the jurisdictional line 
fifty miles northward, into the very heart of New Hampshire ; 
and, on the other hand, that Province strenuously opposed 
this view of the case, and claimed that the line should run, 
east and west, three miles north of the mouth of the Merri- 
mack River. In order to settle these conflicting claims, a 
Royal Commission was appointed to consider the subject and 
establish the contested line. The Commissioners were se- 
lected from the Councillors of the Provinces of New York, 
New Jersey, Nova Scotia, and Rhode Island, — men supposed 
to be free from any local prejudices in the matter and impar- 
tial in their feelings ; and, without doubt, they were such. The 
Board — as appointed under the Great Seal — consisted of 
nineteen members, although only seven served in their capac- 
ity .as Commissioners. They met at Hampton, New Hamp- 
shire, on August I, 1737 ; and for mutual convenience the 
Legislative Assemblies of the two Provinces met in the same 
neighborhood, — the Assembly of New Hampshire at Hamp- 
ton Falls, and that of Massachusetts at Salisbury, places only 
five miles apart. This was done in order that the claims of 
each side might be considered with greater despatch than 
they would otherwise receive. The General Court of Massa- 
chusetts met at Salisbury in the First Parish Meeting-house 
on August 10, 1737, and continued to hold its sessions in 
that town until October 20 inclusive, though with several 
adjournments, of which one was for thirty-five days. The 
printed Journal of the House of Representatives, during this 
period, gives the proceedings of that body, which contain 
much in regard to the controversy besides the ordinary busi- 
ness of legislation. Many years previously the two Provinces 
had been united, so far as to have the same Governor, — at 
this time Jonathan Ijclcher, — but each Province with its own 



legislative body and laws. Governor l^elcher was a native 
of Cambridge ; and in the discussion of these matters his 
prejudices and sympathies appear to have been with Massa- 
chusetts. To a disinterested person, one hundred and fifty 
years afterward, it seems as if the Trojan and Tyrian had 
not been treated by him with the same discrimination. 

The Commissioners heard both sides of the question, and 
agreed upon an award in alternative, leaving to the King the 
interpretation of the charters given respectively by Charles I., 
and William and Mary. Under one interpretation the deci- 
sion was in favor of Massachusetts, and under the other in 
favor of New Hampshire ; and at the same time each party 
was allowed six weeks in which to file objections. Neither 
side, however, was satisfied with this indirect decision, when 
the whole matter was taken to the King in Council. Massa- 
chusetts claimed that the Merrimack River began at the con- 
fluence of the Winnepisaukec and the Pemigewasset Rivers, 
and that the northern boundary of the Province should run, 
east and west, three miles north of this point. It is true that 
this line was somewhat to the southward of the one proposed 
by the Colonial Commissioners in the summer of 1652 ; but 
at the time of the dispute the relative size of the two rivers 
was better understood. On the other hand, New Hampshire 
claimed that the intention of the Charter was to establish a 
northern boundary on a line, running east and west, three 
miles north of the mouth of the Merrimack River. In this 
controversy Massachusetts seems to have based her claim on 
the letter of the contract, while New Hampshire based hers 
on the spirit of the contract. 

The strongest argument in favor of Massachusetts is the 
fact that she had always considered the disputed territory as 
belonging within her jurisdiction ; and before this period she 
had chartered twenty-four towns lying within the limits of 
the tract. These several settlements all looked to her for 
protection, and naturally sympathized with her during the 
controversy. 

To offset this statement in favor of Massachusetts, I will 
give the following extract from "A Summary, Historical and 



15 

Political, of the first Planting, progressive Improvements, and 
present State of the British Settlements in North-America " 
(Boston, 1749), a work written by Dr. William Douglass. 
The author was a noted physician of Boston during the last 
century, of whom it was once wittily said that he was always 
positive and somewhat accurate : — 

A few Years since, the General Assembly of the Massachusetts- 
Bay, was in the Humour of distributing the Property of much 
vacant or Province Land ; perhaps in good Policy and Foresight, 
to secure to the Massachusetts People, by Possession, the Property 
of Part of some controverted Lands ; accordingly it came to pass, 
that upon a royal Commission from the Court of Great- Britain, to 
determine this Controversy, the Jurisdiction but not the Property 
was allotted to New-Hatnpshire, or rather to the Croivn (I. 424). 

As just stated, neither party was satisfied with the verdict 
of the Royal Commissioners, and both sides appealed from 
their judgment. The matter was then taken to England for 
a decision, which was given by the King on March 4, 1739-40. 
His judgment was final, and in favor of New Hampshire. It 
gave that Province not only all the territory in dispute, but a 
strip of land fourteen miles in width lying along her southern 
border — mostly west of the Merrimack — which she had never 
claimed. This strip was the tract of land between the line 
running east and west three miles north of the southernmost 
trend of the river, and a similar line three miles north of its 
mouth. By the decision many townships were taken from 
Massachusetts and given to New Hampshire. It is said that 
the King reprimanded Governor Belcher for the partisan way 
in which he presented his side of the case, and this fact may 
have biassed his mind. The settlement of the disputed ques- 
tion was undoubtedly a public benefit, although it caused at 
the time a great deal of hard feeling. 

In establishing the new boundary west of the Merrimack, 
Pawtucket Falls — situated at the present time in the city 
of Lowell, and near the most southern portion of the river's 
course — was taken as the starting-place ; and the line which 
now separates the two States was run west three miles north 



i6 

of this point. It was surveyed officially in the spring of 1741, 
with reference to the settlement of the dispute according to 
the King's decree. Concerning the boundary east of the 
Merrimack there was but little controversy, as the river was a 
good guide in the matter, although there were a few minor 
points under discussion. After the King's decision was ren- 
dered, the question of expense came up in regard to the sur- 
veys and the marking of the line. It seems to have been 
understood that the entire cost of these preliminary steps 
should be borne by the Province of Massachusetts, but Gov- 
ernor Belcher did not so regard it ; and this misunderstanding 
caused further delay in the settlement of the dispute. George 
Mitchell was appointed to make the survey from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the point three miles north of Pawtucket Falls, after- 
ward known as the Boundary Pine, though now the tree has 
disappeared ; and Richard Hazen from the Boundary Pine to 
the Hudson River. Mitchell worked from a fixed line, as he 
had to establish a boundary three miles from the Merrimack ; 
but Hazen was to run a straight line through the wilderness 
with the help of only a compass, — a much harder task than 
Mitchell's. 

Surveys dependent on the compass are always subject to 
many sources of inaccuracy, — such as the loss of magnetic 
virtue in the poles of the needle ; blunting of the centre-pin ; 
unsuspected local attractions ; oversight or mistake as to the 
secular variation ; and variability from the influence of the sun, 
known as the diurnal variation. Error from the diurnal vari- 
ation may amount, in the distance of a mile, to twenty feet or 
more of lateral deviation. Notwithstanding these iKifficulties 
and drawbacks, the accuracy of Hazen's survey has been con- 
firmed to a remarkable degree ; and the controversy over the 
boundary line has been wholly in regard to the variation of 
the needle which Hazen allowed in making the survey. His 
Journal, fortunately, has been preserved, and is printed in 
" The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register " 
(XXXIII. 323-333) for July, 1879. ^^ shows the hardships 
he encountered and the obstructions he met during the prog- 
ress of the survey, which was begun on March 21, 1741, 



17 

and ended at the Hudson River, on April i6. In less than 
four weeks he established a straight line one hundred and 
nine miles long through an unbroken wilderness, when the 
ground a large part of the way was covered with snow. At 
one place he writes : " The Snow in Generall was near three 
feet Deep, & where we lodged near five ; " and in many other 
places the snow was between two and three feet deep. 

According to the Journal, the surveyors began to measure the 
line, running three miles due north from the Merrimack, at a 
place called " The Great Bunt," near the Pawtucket Falls, now 
in the city of Lowell. This spot lay on the west side of the 
mouth of Beaver Brook, and was once a noted fishing-ground. 
Formerly, before the dam was built, the Falls covered a 
longer stretch of the river than they do at the present time ; 
and a hundred and fifty years ago the entire course of the 
rapids was probably included under the name of Pawtucket 
Falls. The designation of "The Great Bunt " has now dis- 
appeared from the local nomenclature of that neighborhood, 
though some of its cognate forms were kept up for a long 
time. When the same line was re-surveyed in the summer of 
1825, it began at a point called the "great pot-hole place," 
which was presumably the same spot under another name. 
" Bunt" is a nautical word applied to the middle part or belly 
of a sail, as well as to the sag of a net, and perhaps allied to 
" bent ; " and it requires no great stretch of the imagination 
to see why a cavity or hole in the river was called a *' Bunt." 

The boundary line between the two Provinces, as estab- 
lished by Hazen, ran straight through the wilderness, over 
hill and dale, across fields and pastures in a sparsely settled 
country, frequently cutting off large slices of towns, as well 
as of farms, and sometimes bisecting them, and suddenly 
transferring the allegiance of the people from one political 
power to another. To the plain and sturdy yeomanry it 
seemed a kind of revolution, which they could not under- 
stand. In many instances they were taxed for their lands in 
adjoining towns, where previously the tax had been paid 
wholly in one town ; and much confusion was created. Even 
to-day many of the border farms overlap the boundary and lie 



i8 

in both States, and often the owners cannot say exactly 
where the line should run. A man living near the line once 
told me that he had paid taxes on the same parcel of land in 
two different towns, — one in Massachusetts and the other in 
New Hampshire. Another man living in close proximity to 
the line has told me during the present autumn that he could 
not say within several rods where the boundary came. Ordi- 
narily, in agricultural districts, State lines divide the social 
and religious relations of a community with an edge nearly 
as clean-cut and distinct as they separate the political rela- 
tions. In a great measure the average family is more inti- 
mate with those who go to the same religious meeting and 
with those who belong to the same political party, because 
there is so much in common between them. But this state 
of affairs does not hold good to the same extent among 
the people living along the northern boundary of Massachu- 
setts and the southern boundary of New Hampshire ; and 
I attribute the fact largely to the continuity of local tradi- 
tions and to the common origin of the original settlers of the 
neighborhood. 

By the new line the following Massachusetts towns between 
the Merrimack River and the Connecticut, in their geograph- 
ical order, lost portions of their territory: — 

First, Dunstable, a large township originally containing 
128,000 acres, and lying on both sides of the river, was so 
cut in two that by far the larger part came within the limits 
of New Hampshire. Even the meeting-house and the burying- 
ground were separated from that portion still remaining in 
Massachusetts, and this fact added not a little to the animosity 
felt by the inhabitants when the disputed question was settled. 
It is no exaggeration to say that throughout the old township 
the feelings and sympathies of the neighbors on both sides of 
the line were entirely with Massachusetts. A short time be- 
fore this period the town of Nottingham had been incorporated 
by the General Court, and its territory was taken from Dun- 
stable. It comprised all the lands of that town lying on the 
easterly side of the Merrimack River ; and in a great measure 
the difficulty of attending public worship led to the division. 



19 

When the new line was established it aftected Nottingham, 
like many other towns, most unfavorably. It divided its ter- 
ritory, and left a tract of land in Massachusetts too small for 
a separate township, but by its associations and traditions 
belonging to Dunstable. This tract to-day is that part of 
Tyngsborough lying east of the river. The larger portion 
of the town, by the new line, came under the jurisdiction of 
New Hampshire ; but as there was another town of Notting- 
ham in the eastern quarter of that Province, the name was 
subsequently changed by an Act of Legislature, on July 5, 
1746, to Nottingham West; and still later, on July i, 1830, 
this was again changed to Hudson. Counting the city of 
Nashua, there are in the State of New Hampshire at the 
present time no less than seven towns made up wholly or in 
part of the territory which was taken from Dunstable by the 
running of the line. 

Secondly, Groton, though suffering much less severely than 
Dunstable, lost more land than she cared to spare, lying now 
mostly in Nashua, though a small portion of it — not much 
larger than a good-sized potato patch — comes within the 
limits of Hollis, near the railroad station. 

Thirdly, Townsend was deprived of more than one quarter 
of her territory; and the present towns of Brookline, Mason, 
and New Ipswich in New Hampshire are enjoying the benefit 
derived from it. 

Fourthly, two of the Canada townships, so called, — now 
known as Ashburnham and Warwick and Royalston, the last 
two not at that time incorporated as separate towns, — shared 
the same fate as the other towns lying along the new line. 
Ashburnham lost a thousand acres ; and Warwick and Royal- 
ston, then called " Canada to Roxbury," or " Roxbury Can- 
ada," a considerably larger slice of land. 

Fifthly and lastly, Northfield was deprived of a strip of its 
territory more than four miles and a half in width, running 
the whole length of its northern frontier. This portion of the 
town is now included within the limits of Hinsdale and Win- 
chester, New Hampshire, and of Vernon, Vermont. 

Besides these losses a tract of unappropriated land, usu- 



20 

ally denominated Province land, was transferred to New 
Hampshire. 

On the easterly side of the INIerrimack, between the river 
and the ocean, there had always been much less uncertainty in 
regard to the divisional line — as, in a general way, it followed 
the bend of the river — and therefore much less controversy 
over the jurisdiction. 

At the period when the new line was established it was 
generally thought that the question was permanently settled, 
but such did not prove to be the fact. Early in the present 
century, owing to the uncertainty of the line at that time, pub- 
lic attention was again called to the subject. It was claimed 
by the State of New Hampshire that, in establishing the 
boundary, Hazen had allowed too many degrees for the varia- 
tion of the needle, and consequently the line had been carried 
too far north, or, in other words, that there was a narrow gore 
of land lying along the northern boundary of Massachusetts, 
and coming within the limits of that State, which rightfully 
belonged to New tiampshire. It was further said that Gov- 
ernor Belcher was responsible for this allowance in the varia- 
tion of the needle, and that he had given instructions to Hazen 
to allow this variation in order to circumvent the decree of the 
King, and to defraud New Hampshire. Fortunately, to refute 
this charge, the warrant given to Hazen by the Governor is 
still extant, and shows that no such directions were given ; 
and furthermore, if such directions had been given, it would 
have added as much territory on the eastern boundary of 
New Hampshire as was lost by that State on the southern 
boundary. 

In order to settle the disputes at this period between the 
citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and those of 
the State of New Hampshire, the Governor of Massachusetts 
was authorized by a Resolve of the General Court, on Febru- 
ary 24, 1825, to appoint three Commissioners, who were em- 
powered to meet similar Commissioners appointed on the part 
of New Hampshire ; and they were jointly authorized to agree 
upon such principles respecting the running of the boundary 
line as to them should seem just and reasonable. Under this 



21 

authority Lieutenant Governor Marcus Morton, at that time 
Acting Governor, in consequence of the death of Governor 
Eustis, named on May lo as Commissioners the Honorable 
Samuel Dana, of Groton, David Cummings, Esq., of Salem, 
and Ivers Jevvett, Esq., of Fitchburg ; and they were met 
by the Honorable Samuel Bell, Henry B. Chase, Esq., and 
Samuel Dinsmore, Esq., who had been named as Commis- 
sioners by the Governor of New Hampshire. Caleb Butler, 
Esq., of Groton, was appointed Surveyor on the part of Mas- 
sachusetts, and Eliphalet Hunt, Esq., on the part of New 
Hampshire ; and each one was supplied with an Assistant 
Surveyor. Under the management of these gentlemen the 
line was re-surveyed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Con- 
necticut River, but, owing to disagreements between the two 
Boards of Commissioners, no final conclusions were reached. 
The Report of the Massachusetts Commission was made to 
the Governor on January 31, 1827, and that of the other 
Commission was previously made to the Governor of New 
Hampshire ; and they each recommended practically, though 
not totidem verbis, that the whole matter be indefinitely post- 
poned, as no satisfactory result was likely to be reached at 
that period. 

Nothing further was done by either State looking to the 
settlement of this vexed question until very recent times. 
On April 25, 1883, a Resolve was passed by the General Court 
of Massachusetts, authorizing the Governor to appoint a Com- 
mission for the purpose of establishing the boundary line be- 
tween the two States, which was to act in conjunction with a 
similar Commission to be appointed by the Governor of New 
Hampshire. The Commissioners were to reset and replace 
the monuments wherever necessary, in accordance with the 
Report of the Commissioners of the Commonwealth made on 
February 28, 1827. Under the authority of this Resolve, the 
following Commissioners were appointed: De Witt Farring- 
ton, Esq., of Lowell ; Alpheus Roberts Brown, Esq., of Somer- 
ville ; and Clemens Herschel, Esq , of Holyokc. The first two 
members of this Board were duly qualified, but the last one de- 
clined. From the want of co-operation on the part of New 



22 

Hampshire no definite result was reached, and no Report was 
made to the General Court, as provided for in the Resolve. 
On June 19, 1885, another Resolve was passed by the Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, authorizing the Governor to appoint 
a Commission for the purpose of ascertaining and establishing 
the true jurisdictional boundary line between the two States, 
which was to act with a similar Commission to be appointed 
by the Governor of New Hampshire. This Resolve repealed 
and superseded all previous legislation on the subject ; and a 
new Commission was appointed, consisting of Henry Carter, 
Esq., of Bradford ; George W. Cate, Esq., of Amesbury ; and 
Nelson Spofford, Esq.. of Haverhill. The make-up" of this 
Board was soon changed by the resignation of Mr. Spofford, 
who was at once appointed surveyor on the part of Massachu- 
setts, and his place filled by George Whitney, Esq., of Royal- 
ston. Soon afterward Mr. Cate resigned, and the vacancy 
was filled by Edward B. Savage, Esq., of Haverhill. 

The Commissioners appointed on the part of New Hamp- 
shire were: the Honorable John James Bell, of Exeter ; Na- 
thaniel Haven Clark, Esq., of Plaistow ; and Charles H. 
Roberts, Esq., of Concord. The Chairman of the New 
Hampshire Commission is a member of this Society, and 
often honors the meetings by his presence. 

Each of these two Commissions has jjresented to the Legisla- 
tures of its respective States two reports, which are models 
for clearness and conciseness, and show a thorough investiga- 
tion of the whole subject ; but unfortunately they do not agree 
in regard to the disputed line. It is understood that they have 
reached definite and satisfactory conclusions respecting the 
boundary between the ocean and the Merrimack River ; but 
between this river and the Connecticut they do not concur. 
So far as this portion of the line is concerned, the matter 
remains in statu quo. 

At the present time it does not seem likely that the boun- 
dary line between the two States, as it runs from the Merri- 
mack River to the Connecticut, will ever be substantially 
changed; but perhaps the day may come when it will be 
definitely marked by monuments, on every road, so that the 



23 

dwellers along the border will know exactly where it lies. For 
generations the public sentiment of the neighborhood has 
placed the disputed territory within the limits of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, and the occupants of the land have 
always claimed that State as their home. In their opinion 
they are citizens of Massachusetts, and no judgment based 
upon the decree of a King, rendered a hundred and fifty years 
ago, can dispossess them of their birthright. The customs 
and traditions, that have been strained through a century and 
a half, in their case make a law on this point stronger than 
any human enactment. 



r 




J 



♦. 



